The present invention pertains to aqueous disinfectant and/or sanitizing cleaning compositions containing a germicidal quaternary ammonium halide compound and a glycoside surfactant material and to the use of such compositions for disinfecting and/or sanitizing surfaces, articles, etc. contaminated with undesired bacterial, fungal and/or viral organisms.
Alkyl glycoside materials such as, for example, higher alkyl monoglycosides and higher alkyl polyglycosides are known materials; are known, at least in certain circumstances, to function as nonionic surfactants; and have been suggested as being suitable for use in certain specially formulated detergent compositions. See in this regard, for example, Published European Patent Application Nos. 0070074; 0070075; 0070076; and 0070077, all of which published on Jan. 19, 1983 as well as Published European Patent Application Nos. 0075994; 0075995; and 0075996 which published on Apr. 6, 1983. See also Published European Patent Application No. 0105556 (published Apr. 18, 1984) which discloses liquid detergent compositions containing anionic surfactants, alkylpolyglycoside surfactants, selected nonionic surfactants and optionally also containing various other ingredients such as suds, stabilizing amine oxide surfactants, detergent builder materials, and the like; Published European Patent Application No. 0106692 (published Apr. 25, 1984) which discloses stable heavy-duty liquid detergent compositions containing a mixture of an ethoxylated fatty alcohol nonionic surfactant, an aklylpolyglycoside surfactant and a quaternary ammonium cationic surfactant in conjunction with a polyethylene glycol compound and a wide variety of optional conventional laundry detergent additives; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,493,773 (issued Jan. 15, 1985) which discloses laundry detergent compositions which contain a conventional nonionic detergent surfactant, an alkylpolyglycoside detergent surfactant and a quaternary ammonium cationic fabric softening surfactant and which are said to be capable of including a wide variety of conventional laundry detergent additives such as relatively small amounts of detergent buildings, detergency cosurfactants such as trialkyl amine oxides, solvents such as ethanol, and the like.
A relatively specialized category of cleaning coposition of interest to the art is one which is often referred to as a liquid detergent hard surface cleaning composition and which is specifically designed or formulated such that it can be applied to a soiled hard surface of interest (e.g., glass, painted walls, woodwork, etc.) and removed therefrom (for example as by wiping with a dry or damp cloth) without a subsequent rinsing operation and without leaving a significant or unsightly residual film upon the surface after cleaning. Thus, for example, in Published South African Patent Application No. 666,781 there is described a hard surface cleaner composition which comprises from 1-10% of an anionic surfactant (e.g., alkyl sulfate or alkyl aryl sulphonate) or a nonionic surfactant (e.g., an ethylene oxide condensate of a fatty alcohol or of an alkyl phenol) and at least 20% of a 1:1 to 4:1 ratio mixture of an alkali metal (or ammonium) borate and sodium carbonate and which, at a 1% concentration in water, has a pH of at least 9.6
On the other hand, U.S. Pat. No. 3,591,510 to William Edward Zenk (issued July 6, 1971) describes certain liquid hard surface cleaning compositions consisting essentially of from about 0.25 to 4% of certain selected anionic or zwitterionic detergents; from about 0.5 to about 6% of certain water soluble builder components; from about 1 to about 10% of certain selected organic solvents or solvent mixtures; and the balance being water.
In a recent journal article, namely "A Greasy Soil Hard Surface Cleaning Test" by Morris A. Johnson, JAOCS, vol. 61, No. 4, pages 810-813 (April 1984), a series of commercially available solvent-based and water-based cleaners were tested for greasy soil removal effectiveness at various dilution ratios.
Hard surface cleaning formulations are also discussed in "Formulation of Hard Surface Spray Cleaners" by R. E. Johnson and E. T. Clayton, detergents and specialties, June 1969, pages 28-32 and 56. Formulations discussed in such article includes (a) one which was composed of 1 weight percent of a nonionic surfactant (linear alcohol ethoxylate), 2.5 weight percent of anhydrous tetrapotassium pyrophosphate (builder), 5 weight percent of ethylene glycol monobutyl ether (solvent) and the balance water and (b) another which was the same as the former except that the indicated nonionic surfactant was replaced with a corresponding amount of a linear alkylbenzenesulfonate anionic surfactant. In said article, it is noted that the aforementioned nonionic surfactant-based formulation exhibited slightly more filming (i.e., being given a "moderate" film rating) than its corresponding anionic surfactant-based counter-part (which obtained a "moderate-good" film rating).
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,065,409 to John J. Flanagan (issued Dec. 27, 1977), there are disclosed certain liquid detergent compositions which comprise aqueous solutions containing certain selected ethoxylated nonionic surfactants in combination with certain amine oxide and quaternary ammonium halide surfactant components. Such compositions are described as being useful as hard surface detergents for cleaning surfaces such as painted wood, plaster or wall board; tile; glass; metal; linoleum and the like. The combination of the three surfactant ingredients indicated above is said to exhibit improved detergent properties relative to those exhibited by compositions containing any one or two of said ingredients at equivalent concentrations.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,174,304 to John J. Flanagan (issued Nov. 13, 1979), surfactant systems comprising, in certain specified proportions, a combination of certain ethoxylated nonionic, amine oxide and quaternary ammonium halide surfactant components are described as being suitable, in combination with certain other specified ingredients (such as antifoaming agents, water softening agents, viscosity reducing agents, builders and the like) in the preparation of a wide variety of commercially useful cleaning formulations such as, for example, degreasing cleaner compositions; wax and floor finish stripper compositions; glass and smooth surface cleaning and polishing compositions; and the like.
The development, evaluation and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) labeling requirements for cleaner disinfectant compositions such as, for example, those containing quaternary ammonium halide compounds, nonionic detergents and detergent builder ingredients are discussed in an article entitled "Formulating Quaternary Cleaner Disinfectants to Meet EPA Requirements" by Donald F. Greene and Alfonso N. Petrocci, SOAP/COSMETICS/CHEMICAL SPECIALTIES, August 1980, pages 33-35 and 61.